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A nightclub fire killed at least 233 people in southern Brazil on Sunday when a band's pyrotechnics show set the building ablaze and fleeing partygoers stampeded toward blocked exits in the ensuing panic. Read the full story.

A policeman walks down the stairs at the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court in Guiyang January 28, 2013. The trial of disgraced senior Chinese leader Bo Xilai will not be held in a southern Chinese city on Monday as some media had reported, a court official said. "It is fake information", a court official told reporters outside the People's Intermediate Court building in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province. REUTERS/Jason Lee

French officials have organised no press conferences in Bamako. Their press contingent in Bamako consists of a one-man band, whose main function is to refer media queries to Paris.

The Malian army has likewise restricted media access, barring journalists and human rights organisations from areas safely in its hands such as Konna and Sevare for some days. The lack of freedom of movement has also drawn criticism from aid groups, who say people are being blocked from fleeing the conflict.

Nyo Nyo San, 35, a land mine victim breastfeeds her daughter in Zawti village in Kyaukki township January 24, 2013. San lost her leg in 2006 after stepping on a land mine while collecting wood just outside her village. More than 300 people in Kyaukki Township (population 115,200) in Northern Bago Division, adjacent to once war-torn Kayin State in Myanmar have lost their limbs due to mine blasts. Most of the blasts happened while they were working on their farms or picking vegetables outside their village, villagers said. They blame both the government and ethnic armed group the Karen National Union (KNU) for the mine attacks. Since the KNU and Myanmar's government recent peace agreement, the residents in Kyaukki township feel that they will be able live with less fear of land mines. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

CAIRO - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi declared a month-long state of emergency in three cities along the Suez Canal where dozens of people have been killed over the past four days in protests that his allies say are designed to overthrow him.

Seven people were shot dead and hundreds were injured in Port Said on Sunday during the funerals of 33 people killed there when locals angered by a court decision went on the rampage as anti-government protests spread around the country.

A total of 49 people have been killed since Thursday and Mursi's opponents, who accuse his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the revolution that ousted long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, have called for more demonstrations on Monday.

"Down, down Mursi, down down the regime that killed and tortured us!" people in Port Said chanted as the coffins of those killed on Saturday were carried through the streets.

DUBAI - Iran has denied media reports of a major explosion at one of its uranium enrichment sites, describing them as "Western propaganda" designed to influence upcoming nuclear negotiations.

Reuters has been unable to verify reports since Friday of an explosion at the underground Fordow bunker, near the religious city of Qom, that some Israeli and Western media have said caused significant damage.

WARSAW - Lawyers for two men who say they were held illegally in a secret CIA jail on Polish territory argue that a landmark criminal investigation into the "black site" is being stalled because a trial will embarrass the Polish state.

Protesters flee from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes after protesters removed a concrete barrier at Qasr al-Aini Street near Tahrir Square in Cairo January 24, 2013. Egypt marks the second anniversary of the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power on Friday, but the deeply divided nation facing an economic crisis is bracing for more protests, this time against a freely elected leader. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Ecuador has a presidential election coming up on February 17. Here's a look at the opposition candidates challenging sitting President Rafael Correa, who is expected to win reelection.

GUILLERMO LASSOPolls show the former head of Banco de Guayaquil, Ecuador's No. 2 bank, is the top challenger to Correa. The most recent survey by pollster Cedatos, published in December, shows him taking 22 percent of the vote.

He is a fresh face in the political arena whom many undecided voters say they would consider backing.

But Lasso, 57, may face stigma associated with being a banker. Ecuadoreans blame banks for a 1999 financial crisis that forced Ecuador to adopt the dollar as currency the following year. Hundreds of thousands lost part of their savings.

Lasso is running on a platform of boosting job creation by lowering taxes and providing incentives to private investors.

LUCIO GUTIERREZA former army major who took part in a coup that overthrew Jamil Mahuad in 2000, Gutierrez was elected president in 2002 but was deposed after social unrest in 2005.

He leads the Patriotic Society Party, which has strong support in Amazon areas and has a disciplined campaign team. Gutierrez, 55, also is seen as having strong support within the army and the police.

Cedatos shows him receiving 10 percent of the vote, but that may be an underestimate as his support is strongest in remote rural areas.

ALBERTO ACOSTAAn economist and academic, Acosta was a close friend and political ally of Correa until the two parted ways in 2008.

Acosta is a founder of the ruling Alianza Pais party and the former head of an assembly that rewrote Ecuador's constitution in 2008. He has accused Correa of betraying the party's socialist roots and "moving right."

He heads an alliance of leftist parties and grassroots movements that is critical of Correa's drive to attract foreign investment into the oil and mining sectors, which he considers a threat to the environment.

He is likely to chip away support for Correa among minority groups including indigenous people in the Amazon and the Andes and people of African descent in coastal areas. Cedatos' latest poll shows him receiving 8 percent of the vote.

ALVARO NOBOAA wealthy banana magnate well-known throughout Ecuador, Noboa is running for president for the fifth time. Polls show him with barely 1 percent of the vote.

Noboa points out polls showed him trailing in the 2006 election but he defeated Correa in the first round.

The line between Noboa's party, PRIAN, and his companies, is blurry. Some executives also are leading party members.

Noboa will campaign on a platform of higher education spending and support for the private sector. He is known for his eccentric campaign style, which has included offers to raffle off houses and company jobs to supporters. He chose his wife, Annabella Azin, as his running mate.

Noboa is battling authorities over a multimillion dollar back tax bill the government says one of his companies owes. He says the claim is absurd and part of a campaign of political persecution meant to keep him out of politics.

Photos from Mali:

French soldiers drink water as they prepare a security zone at Bamako airport January 23, 2013.REUTERS/Malin Palm

by Clare Richardsonon Jan 25, 2013 at 2:36 PM

Adama Drabo, a 16-year old Islamist who was arrested by the Malian Army in Douentza, speaks during an interview with journalists at the police station in Sevare, about 600 km (400 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako January 25, 2013. REUTERS/Adama Diarra

Here's a photo of the case of a thermal-damaged lithium ion battery. Damaged, indeed.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators display the exterior case of a thermal-damaged lithium ion battery, as a part of their ongoing investigation into why the battery caught fire in a Japan Airlines' 787 parked at Boston Logan International Airport January 7, at their labs in Washington, January 24, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

While the attention of American politicians has rightly focused on the safety of American diplomats, the key players in battling Africa’s jihadists are local leaders and security forces. The record of the United States and its allies in training security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is checkered at best. Africa will be yet another test.

SANAA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A Saudi national who was second-in-command of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has died after being wounded by security forces in November, Yemen's state news agency reported on Friday, citing an unnamed senior security official.

Said al-Shehri was wounded in an operation carried out by the security apparatus on Nov. 28 in the northern province of Saada, the source, a member of Yemen's supreme security committee, told the news agency.

He subsequently fell into a coma and then died, the source said, without saying when exactly Shehri had died.

Israel's elections Tuesday have put ultra-Orthodox parties between a rock and a hard place.

JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Powerful political players for years, Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties must now reckon with a new force ushered in by voters bent on stripping them of perks they have relied on for decades.

Centrist Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party came a surprise second in Tuesday's parliamentary election, usurping ultra-Orthodox groups Shas and United Torah Judaism from their long-standing role of kingmakers in coalition negotiations.

Voted in by a frustrated middle-class, Yesh Atid promised to enact an "equal sharing of the burden" -- code for curtailing both welfare benefits given to ultra-Orthodox families and an exemption from military service offered to their menfolk.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man looks at the voters' list before casting his ballot for the parliamentary election at a polling station in Jerusalem January 22, 2013. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Bad news for Brazil's Amazon rainforest: deforestation appears to be on the rise again.

In the last five months of 2012, Imazon detected clearings of 497 square miles (1,288 square km) of woodland - a Los Angeles-size total that is more than twice as big as the combined areas detected in the last five months of 2011.

Israeli voters force Netanyahu to seek centrist partner

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pauses while delivering a statement at his office in Jerusalem, January 23, 2013. Netanyahu narrowly won an election in which disgruntled voters catapulted a new centrist challenger into second place and he now faces the daunting task of building a coalition. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

by Clare Richardsonon Jan 24, 2013 at 5:38 PM

JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Israel's next government must heed voters and devote itself to bread-and-butter issues, not thorny foreign policy problems such as Iran's nuclear plans and the Palestinian conflict, senior politicians said on Thursday.

Israelis worried about housing, prices and taxes have reshaped parliament, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to woo their centrist champion as his main coalition partner.

BERLIN, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Germany and the Netherlands on Thursday joined Britain in urging all of their citizens to leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi due to a specific threat to Westerners.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry warned its citizens to avoid Benghazi and the area to its east, saying the security situation was uncertain and that there was a risk of violence.

"All journeys, including for transit, and stays in certain regions, specifically Benghazi and the region to its east, are advised against," the ministry said on its website.

The German Foreign Ministry declined to give any further details to explain its warning. Berlin had warned Germans since last week's deadly attack by Islamist militants in Algeria of a heightened risk of violence or kidnapping for Westerners across North Africa and countries bordering the Sahara.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold in Berlin and Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam; Writing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

An aerial view shows a Japan Coast Guard patrol ship (R) spraying water at a fishing boat (L) that is carrying Taiwanese activists on board about 32 km (20 miles) west-southwest of one of the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan, Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan, in the East China Sea, in this picture released by the Japan Coast Guard's 11th Regional Coast Guard headquarters January 24, 2013. A group of Taiwanese activists departed at around midnight on Thursday and headed towards the disputed islands, Taiwan coast guards said. REUTERS/11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters-Japan Coast Guard/Handout

A split among the Islamists in Mali as Ansar Dine faction says it wants a ceasefire and autonomy talks:

MARKALA, Mali/DAKAR, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A split emerged on Thursday in the alliance of Islamist militant groups occupying northern Mali as French and African troops prepared a major ground offensive aimed at driving al Qaeda and its allies from their safe haven in the Sahara.

A senior negotiator from the Ansar Dine rebels who helped seize the north from Mali's government last year said he was now part of a faction that wanted talks and rejected the group's alliance with al Qaeda's North African franchise AQIM.

A woman poses with a copy of the January 24 first edition of Spanish newspaper El Pais in central Madrid January 24, 2013. REUTERS/Andrea Comas

by Clare Richardsonon Jan 24, 2013 at 3:42 PM

Spain's influential El Pais newspaper apologized on Thursday for publishing a "false photo" of elusive, cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, removed the image from its website and withdrew its print edition.

Chavez is currently convalescing in Cuba after undergoing surgery for cancer for the fourth time on December 11. He has not been seen publicly for six weeks, fuelling rampant speculation over how serious his condition is.

A member of the Afghan National Police prays at sunset before the detonation of confiscated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) near Combat Outpost Hutal in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, January 21, 2013. REUTERS/Andrew Burton

Russia's parliament has given preliminary backing to a bill that would enable the country's 83 regions to scrap popular elections of their leaders in favor of a system that would let President Vladimir Putin choose candidates instead.

Opponents said the bill, approved in a 403-10 vote late on Wednesday after the first of three readings in the lower house would be a step backwards for democracy in Putin's new term. The lower house is dominated by Putin's United Russia party.

Tribal movement wins Jordan vote, Islamists to protest

(Reuters) - Pro-government candidates strengthened their hold on Jordan's parliament after an election on Wednesday boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood-led opposition, which said the ballot was biased against it.

State television said on Thursday that most of the 150 seats contested were won by independents, candidates with limited political agendas who rely on family and tribal allegiances rather than party backing.

SEGOU, Mali, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Mali's army sealed off the central town of Sevare to journalists on Wednesday following allegations by residents and human rights groups that government soldiers had executed Tuaregs and Arabs accused of collaborating with Islamist rebels.

The allegations, which have been denied by the Malian army, threatened to cast a shadow over a French-led operation to drive Islamist fighters allied to al Qaeda from northern Mali.

They also pointed to a risk the internationally backed military campaign could trigger further racially motivated killings in Mali's desert north, home to complex mix of ethnic groups.

AMMAN, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Around 20,000 Syrian refugees have fled to neighbouring Jordan in the last seven days due to escalating violence in southern Syria, the fastest influx since the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad two years ago, Jordan's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

“What we have seen in terms of influx of Syrian refugees coming to Jordan is ... unprecedented, larger than any other time in the last two years," Nasser Judeh told Reuters. “We have had 20,000 Syrians coming into Jordan since last Thursday.”

Venezuela's VP says he's target of assassination plot

Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro delivers the state of nation address to national assembly in Caracas January 15, 2013. Maduro delivered the state of nation in absence of President Hugo Chavez who still recovering from a cancer surgery in Cuba. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

by Clare Richardsonon Jan 23, 2013 at 8:48 PM

CARACAS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Vice President Nicolas Maduro said unidentified groups had entered Venezuela with the aim of assassinating him and the head of the National Assembly as President Hugo Chavez recovers from cancer in Cuba.

Maduro provided no proof of the claim, which he made at a rally to mark the end of a dictatorship in the OPEC nation 55 years ago. He said he and the energy minister would travel to Havana on Wednesday to see Chavez.

"For several weeks we've been following groups that have infiltrated the country with the aim of making attempts on the life of (Assembly head) Diosdado Cabello and my own," the vice president told a crowd of red-shirted "Chavista" supporters.

MOSCOW, Jan 23 (Reuters) - One of two jailed Pussy Riot members said she received death threats and complained of abuse at a prison colony where she is serving a two-year sentence for a punk protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.

But Maria Alyokhina and fellow group member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said they did not regret the protest, despite describing harsh prison conditions in interviews published on Wednesday by the opposition-leaning Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Lindsay Sandiford of Britain (R) listens to her translator during her trial in Denpasar at the Indonesian resort island of Bali January 22, 2013. Indonesia's court sentenced death for Sandiford on Tuesday for 4.79 kilograms (11 lbs) of cocaine in the lining of her suitcase upon arrival from Bangkok, media reported. REUTERS/Stringer

BEIJING, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A Japanese envoy carrying a letter from new prime minister Shinzo Abe told his Chinese hosts on Wednesday that Japan wants to improve bilateral ties, strained by a dispute over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

A spokesman for Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of New Komeito, the junior partner in Japan's ruling coalition, would not disclose the letter's contents nor say explicitly who it was for.

But he told Tang Jiaxuan, a former Chinese foreign minister and head of the China-Japan Friendship Association, Yamaguchi had high hopes for the visit.

An Islamic militant (rear C) in camouflage uniform, stands among Algerian employees who were forced to leave their houses with their belongings at the In Amenas natural gas complex in In Amenas, in this January 16, 2013, photograph secretly taken by a hostage and released by Kyodo on January 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kyodo/Handou

WASHINGTON No negotiations can be held with North Korea until it improves its behavior, a White House official said on Wednesday, raising questions about U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's offer to begin talks with Pyongyang any time and without pre-conditions. | Video

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